A COLLECTION OF SOME OF MY BEST PUBLISHED PIECES, INCLUDING ANALYSIS, CRITICISM, AND SATIRE. NOW INCLUDING COMMENTS ON JUST ABOUT ANYTHING FROM MANY OF THE WORLD'S QUALITY NEWSPAPERS.

Monday, July 02, 2012

THE HORRIBLE SHOPPING CENTER ROOF COLLAPSE AT ELLIOT LAKE - LACK OF LEADERSHIP? - AN ENEMY OF THE PEOPLE - COMMENTS ON RESCUERS AND AN UNTHINKING COMPARISON WITH 9/11

POSTED RESPONSES TO AN EDITORIAL IN TORONTO'S GLOBE AND MAIL

I don't believe the situation involves leadership at all.

Elliot Lake is desperate old mining town trying to spark a
new life as a retirement community.

We know from the words of residents and its history that the
shopping center has been in poor shape for years, the owner undoubtedly
reluctant to spend a million dollars or more to bring it up.

And just who is that would push him?

He would just close the facility and sell the land.

Who would take this risk of seeing a fairly essential
service close down in a community trying to lure new residents?

The local newspaper? You must be kidding, local papers
everywhere and always are just community boosters.

Any part of the local government? Again, boosterism is a
primary function.

Indeed, an engineer inspected the place in the not-too-distant
past.

He said to someone working in a shop, someone very worried
about the roof, that the stains and cracks and water leaks were just cosmetic.

No matter how conscientious the engineer, would he take on
all the community boosters to threaten the existence of the center?

Remember Ibsen's "Enemy of the People"?

That was the definitive story of how a single conscientious
man, a doctor, discovering something very wrong with his community's main
source of income, was treated.

The story is iconic because that is the way most of the
human race behaves given such circumstances.

We are, after all, nothing but chimps with somewhat larger
brains.

Look closer to home.

Has the Globe started any kind of campaign about a Mayor who
has broken laws a number of times during his brief time in office? Observed
driving while using his cellphone? Running an open streetcar door? Abusing a
TTC employee trying to be conscientious towards his passengers?

Did the Globe start any campaign over Mr. Harper's contempt
of Parliament? His refusal to provide essential information? His lying to Parliament? His grovelling to
special interests, distorting Canada's historic fairness in policies? His
deliberate ignoring of international treaty obligations?

No, the Globe recommended he be re-elected.

Why would you expect more in a remote, sad little place like
Elliot Lake?

__________________________________________

"The performance
of the would-be rescuers at Elliot Lake was shameful.

"When I think of
the hundreds of firemen, police, EMS personnel and others who risked, and lost,
their lives..."

Sorry, but you cannot judge that unless you were on the
spot.

The average policeman, day in day out risks almost nothing -
the stats on fatalities in police work show it to be far, far safer than many
industrial jobs, including oil-well roughnecks.

Firemen face a good deal more hazard than police according
to stats.

Rescue workers are not expected in the normal course of
their efforts to risk their lives.

This structure was rotten when standing. Who knows the risks
faced in rummaging through the remains?

You can't blame them.

Any blame belongs to the owner and town officials who were
reluctant to push for repairs.

It's all a terrible case of passing the buck.

And so far as the same writer's comparison to 9/11, it is
ridiculous.

Virtually none of those New York rescuers expected a tower
could collapse.

Yes, there were the usual risks of smoke and fire, but
firemen are equipped for that.

The towers were said to be virtually impossible to knock
down, actually designed to take an airline collision.